July 18, 2022 02:13 PM UTC

We Don't Need No Edumacation

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• by: Colorado Pols

Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made news over the weekend when she told a “Moms for Liberty” event in Florida that she thinks the federal department she directed as recently as 2020 should be abolished altogether. Said DeVos:

“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist.”

This is not a new idea, by any means; right-wing Republicans have long argued that the Department of Education should be scrapped in favor of letting state and local authorities make their own decisions on learning the childrens. You know, like in Florida, where math books get banned for mentioning brown people.

This is also an idea that Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Dea has in common with Betsy DeVos. Speaking on The Leland Conway Show on April 12, 2022, O’Dea said this in answer to a question about if he supports eliminating some federal departments:

I think I’d get rid of [the Department of] Education. [Pols emphasis] I think we proved that here in Colorado through COVID, right? We finally got to look and see what our kids our learning. Parents around this state took it back. They took it seriously. We turned over school boards.

The idea that parents were unaware of what their children were learning in school until COVID-19 came along is just plain stupid. If you want to know what your kid is learning in school, ask them. Or look at their homework. Or talk to their teacher. It’s not like the public school curriculum is some big secret.

Anyway, on this issue it appears that Joe O’Dea and Betsy DeVos are in complete agreement. This should go over real well with teachers and school administrators in Colorado.